A slow hit called Lightning is giving Ohio zookeepers a new experience.
Lightning, a Linne’s two-toed sloth, gave birth last week at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the facility announced.
He is the first of his kind to be born at the zoo.
“This is the first baby sloth our team has cared for,” Julie Grove, the zoo’s ambassador animal manager, said on its website.
“We are beyond excited that the baby is finally here! We stand ready to support Lightning as she navigates being a mother.”
In 2021, Lightning gave birth to a stillborn baby, so the zoo team was excited, but anxious this time.
They prepared the mom-to-be in the weeks leading up to the baby’s arrival by placing a small stuffed sloth on her to make her feel comfortable.
The baby’s father, a 23-year-old sloth named Moe, was moved to a different area of the facility after his partner “entered a irritable phase of her pregnancy.”
The newborn will nurse for about a month and will be able to hang upside down on its own at 20-25 days.
Living in the rainforests of Central America and northern South America, Linne’s two-toed sloths are not yet considered endangered, but their population is declining due to hunting for their meat and loss of their natural habitat.